Seriously Underrated

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I recently took a couple of flights in the P-38 again, and Wow is that plane underrated!

With twin-engines on a boom, there aren’t many airplanes where you can see two propeller engines spinning. And when they throttle up, man is that sound glorious!

The P-38’s got some similar performance to the other WWII fighter, the Spitfire, but has tricycle undercarriage. So, you don’t have to worry about taildragger landings, making it an easier plane to fly.

It also has the vintage fighter cockpit, with a circular yoke - something you definitely don’t see a lot. But you’ll have to get passed the now simple rendering and static instruments.

These planes don’t have autopilot, forcing you to do everything manually. Be mindful of this, as you can’t really pause to do something else once you start flying. However, that makes for a truly pure piloting experience as you get the sense of flying entirely by hand, a rewarding feat derived from knowing you’re in complete control.

Looking over this, the P-38 can be a fun plane to fly and appears to be rather under-appreciated. Have you ever flown this legacy fighter? What are your thoughts on the plane?

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View from the cockpit, with the rather outdated graphics. Note the wheel and engine spin.

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I love the plane itself and the idea of flying it. I think the big kicker for most is just how outdated it is. Not necessarily the plane itself, but also it’s physics. Planes released in early versions of the game contain much older physics updates meaning it doesn’t have things like ground effect which makes it really hard to land. Especially with it being a lighter aircraft. I’d love to see it get a facelift along with the spitfire.

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With the recent trend of reworks/new additions, the P-38 will be most likely replaced by another Allied fighter. Maybe the P-51D.